Currently, wire screen supports for radial flow reactors use horizontal support rods. The horizontal support rods increase the pressure drop by presenting projections that interfere with the flow of fluid into the reactor. The design of screens for use in radial flow reactors is for a sufficient pressure drop to provide a uniform distribution of the flow of fluid through the reactor. A conventional well screen with profiled wires can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,046,458. The wires are helically wrapped around a plurality of longitudinal rods, and welded to the rods to define slots of predetermined widths. After the wires are welded to the rods to form the screen, the screen is opened and flattened. The flattened screen can then be rolled to from a cylindrical screen with the wires in the longitudinal direction and forming slots that run the length of the cylindrical surface of the screen. The screen can be rolled such that the wires are on the inner surface of the outer screen for a radial flow reactor, or rolled such that the wires are on the outer surface of the inner screen for the radial flow reactor.
An increase in pressure drop along the axial direction of the reactor on the fluid side produces a non-uniform distribution of the flow of fluid and adversely affects the distribution of fluid flow through the reactor. One improvement in the screen design for the radial flow reactor is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,265 where channel members are used in the formation of the screen, instead of conventional support rods. The channel members are placed such that they abut one another to form a relatively smooth surface for the screen to reduce the pressure drop on the fluid side of the screen.
However, this design while addressing the pressure drop problem associated with use in a radial flow reactor creates a cleaning and maintenance problem. The screen with the channels create regions of the reactor that accumulate fines from the catalyst and collect within the channels. The design inhibits removal of the fines and requires substantial dismantling of the reactor in order to remove the fines and to prepare the reactor for reuse.